Sunday, August 9, 2015

Kenny Chesney Takes Mile High Higher

Denver, CO (August 9, 2015): Kenny Chesney grew up watching the Denver Broncos playing on TV, so playing Sports Authority Stadium at Mile High was one of the shows he was looking forward to. Evidently, Denver shared that anticipation as Chesney’s Big Revival 2015Tour stop sold 54,674 – the most ever for an end zone set-up show at the iconic football stadium.

“Since I started coming here to play the Grizzly Rose, the Denver fans have been a big part of taking my music where it’s gone… and they sure did tonight!” Chesney said after the show. “We have had some incredible shows in Denver, including those crazy nights at Red Rocks, which I didn’t think anything could top. This just did."To gear up for the Mile High show, Chesney spent the morning at practice with the Broncos. Wearing a Tennessee t-shirt in solidarity with his good friend Peyton Manning, who was at practice, Chesney took in the drills and got focused up for his sold-out show.Football was the day’s underlying theme. Earlier that evening, Chesney was invoked during legendary general manager Ron Wolf’s speech during his induction into the Football Hall of Fame. The man who spent 22 seasons with the Raiders before transforming the Green Bay Packers, opened his comments with “I’d like to start by quoting my good friend Kenny Chesney, ‘This is our moment, This is our time/ This is our destiny, This is our night to shine…"“My friends in the NFL were blowing my phone up with texts when Ron did that,” Chesney marveled. “Ron Wolf meant so much to football, he changed the game, but he also believed in the passion and the work it takes to make a team great. Those same ideas are what I brought with me to Nashville when I was a kid; the idea it transfers… what do you say?"Naturally Chesney’s celebration of high school “The Boys of Fall” took on even deeper tones during the otherwise high-energy set. Pulling a girl in her mid-teens from the crowd, Chesney gave the petite brunette in a red plaid shirt a hug and then set the signed Broncos helmet on her head. The crowd erupted as loud as they’d done for “American Kids,” “Out Last Night” or “Summertime."“I like the idea of giving a girl the helmet,” Chesney says. “Like ‘Wild Child,’ it says women really can do anything. It’s important people know and think that. When you see this, I think it resets the way we look at the world! Dream and be what you want. Just look at me…”

The Dallas Morning News hailed the 8-time Entertainer of the Year as “Two parts Mick Jagger, one part Springsteen, one part Billy Graham.” In keeping with that endorsement, Chesney’s broken his own record at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field, Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium and Minneapolis’ Target Stadium for the third time, as well as playing to nearly 54,000 at the Rose Bowl.

As the Big Revival 2015 starts to wind down, there are several major stadiums ahead: E. Rutherford, NJ’s Met Life Stadium 8/15, Detroit’s Ford Field 8/22 and a double at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium 8/28-29. Those shows will take the only country act on Billboard’s Top 10 Touring Acts of the Last 25 Years to a total 135 stadium shows since 2005.